BELGRADE — After Tuesday's School and Special Districts Election, school districts whose mill levy failed are having to take another look at their budgets for the next year.
"It all helps you get to what the state believes is the right amount of funding, the 100% of funding, that your community needs to educate their kids," says Dede Semerad, Superintendent for the Belgrade School District.
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She explains that 80% of school funding is provided by the state, but 20% is left for local taxpayers to make up through levies.
"So, the school board moved forward with asking for a levy that was relatively small, to keep us at that 100% of what the state says our kids need to be educated fairly," Semerad says.
The Belgrade School District asked for two general fund levies—$100,000 for the Belgrade Middle School and $65,000 for the high school.
Both were voted down. The levies would have gone towards employee salaries and utilities, which Semerad says are rising in price.
"So, our utilities, which are going up, the cost we have for getting paper, which is going up. All those things are rising, and so that was the goal was to keep us 100% funded so that we could keep doing the things that we're doing with our kids," Semerad says.
She adds that uncertainties happening at the federal level have many schools expecting to reassess budgets.
"We’re in kind of a funny space with everyone across the country wondering what changes we’re going to see at the federal level that then go to the state, then come to us," she says.
Despite the unfavorable vote, Semerad also recognizes that statewide issues, like property taxes, have hit places like the Gallatin Valley the hardest.
She says, "And so, our voters felt a huge impact from that and are still feeling that. I think we were hoping that the legislature and governor could come to terms with some solutions for that."
Semerad says that the closeness of the race, 47% voting yes and 51% voting no, shows how much the community cares for the district and promises continued commitment to quality education.
"When we do have to make adjustments to budgets, we try to keep that as far from students as we can. Sometimes that’s not possible, but we’ll be open and transparent about that process, and we encourage people to come to our school board meetings and come to our school finance meetings," she says.
